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NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM: SECRET OF THE TOMB (Blu-ray combo)

March 11, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Comedy, PG rated , , 1 Comment

NightattheMuseum3coverGrade: B/B+
Entire family: Yes
2014, 98 min., Color
20th Century Fox
Rated PG for mild action, some rude humor and brief language
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1 widescreen
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Bonus features: B-
Trailer

Quick. Name five action comedies that are rated PG. Can’t do it?

I’m not surprised. That’s not the direction Hollywood has been going. Most action comedies aim for an adult audience and then try to ratchet down the adult content in order to squeeze by with a PG-13 rating. But like its predecessors, Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb is obviously aimed at children, with an eye toward producing something that adults might enjoy as well.

And wholesome doesn’t mean dumbed down. Sure, there are more silly gags and sequences that will delight kids (like the “rude humor” bit where a monkey takes a page from Gulliver’s Travels and pees to put out a fire). But there’s also some smart writing, and as one of the excellent bonus features on this Blu-ray combo pack reveals, just as much ad-libbing from the stars—nuanced performances that adults can appreciate.

NightscreenBen Stiller anchors the cast again as Larry Daley, a security guard at a New York museum who works at night, when a magical Egyptian tablet brings all the exhibits to life. If your family liked Night at the Museum (2006) and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009), you’ll like this one too. My wife and I thought it was just as good as the others, while my 13-year-old daughter said it was her favorite of the three. My 17-year-old son liked it except for Rebel Wilson (he hates her) and Larry’s 17-year-old son (Skyler Gisondo), whose character “wasn’t developed enough” for him.

Though Wilson doesn’t get much screen time as a British Museum security guard, the rest of us thought she was every bit as funny as the others. This franchise shifts the spotlight each time, and in Secret of the Tomb newcomer Sir Lancelot (Dan Stevens) and caveman Laaa (also played by Stiller) are featured. Attilla the Hun (Patrick Gallagher) gets more to do this outing, while miniature diorama guys Octavius the Roman (Steve Coogan) and cowboy Jedediah (Owen Wilson) have a side adventure that requires their rescue by Dexter, the stuffed monkey that comes to life with rest of the fake exhibits.

The plot has a Back to the Future vibe to it, since the magic tablet is gradually turning black and the museum gang starts to malfunction and lose mobility. To save them, Larry convinces museum director Dr. McPhee (Ricky Gervais) to let him take the tablet to London, where Ahkmenrah (Rami Malek) can be reunited with his parents, who know the secret of the tablet. Can he find the answer and fix the tablet before his exhibit friends forever lose the ability to come to life?   More

THE ROAD TO HONG KONG (Blu-ray)

March 6, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Comedy, Entire Family, G rated Leave a comment

RoadtoHongKongcoverGrade: B
Entire family: Yes, but young ones may not “bite”
1962, 91 min., black and white
Olive Films
Not Rated (would be G)
Aspect ratio: 1.66:1 widescreen
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Bonus features: None
Trailer

In May 1962, theatergoers saw two movies about the space race and secret organizations intent on world domination. One was the first James Bond film (Dr. No), and the other was The Road to Hong Kong, the last “Road picture” with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.

Ironically, Hong Kong, the first of the Road pics to make it onto Blu-ray, is also the weakest. My 17-year-old son watched this black-and-white comedy with me and was surprised to hear that. He gave it a solid B. “It had some stupid parts,” he said, pointing a finger at the ending, especially, “but it was also pretty funny.”

He’s right. While Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1945), Road to Rio (1947), and Road to Bali (1952—the only one in color) are all better, The Road to Hong Kong is still entertaining.

Comedian Bob Hope and crooner Bing Crosby struck gold in the ‘40s playing a pair of vaudevillians slash con artists who somehow got involved in dangerous situations, with Crosby always duping Hope and the two of them always running into the singing siren Dorothy Lamour along the way. In each installment there were corny song-and-dance numbers, plenty of jokes and one-liners, at least one opportunity for Crosby to sing, and running gags about how Crosby always gets the girl and the best of his partner.

Hong Kong was the equivalent of a reunion show, and Crosby and Hope have clearly lost a little of their comic edge. In fact, a younger Peter Sellers doing a cameo as an Indian doctor reminds us that the two stars used to be much faster and glibber with their banter. Yet, they weren’t that old. Crosby and Hope were 59 at the time the movie was made, so it’s more likely that the 10-year-hiatus since they last worked together was responsible for the jokes not being as rapid-fire as usual. And while previous Road pictures were largely ad-libbed, this one felt mostly scripted.

Is that bad? No . . . unless you’re Dorothy Lamour, who was relegated to a cameo nightclub scene. Instead, then-hot Joan Collins was given the female lead. She does a decent job, but the chemistry just isn’t the same as it was when Lamour heated up the screen . . . and both of her co-stars.

RoadtoHongKongscreenIn Hong Kong, which spoofs ‘60s spy films before many of them had even been made, Hope and Crosby play a couple of cons selling “do-it-yourself interplanetary flight kits” that ends up giving Hope’s character amnesia. They go to a monastery for a cure, but along the way they end up mistakenly picking up a suitcase from a Third Echelon agent and are mistaken for the spies who are to give them a Russian rocket fuel formula. The plot thickens when Hope’s character receives a memory boost at the monastery and he can rattle off the entire formula from pages that his partner sticks in front of him as a test. The result is that they soon become entangled with a Third Echelon agent (Collins) and end up at the secret underwater base where the Third Echelon leader (Robert Morley) and his chief scientist Zorbb (Walter Gotell) are preparing to launch a rocket into space carrying chimps. But what better way to dispose of an “inconvenience” than by substituting them for the apes?

A space gag about forced feeding of the apes goes on a bit too long (which will make it the only funny part for very young viewers), and yes, if you don’t know the history of the Road pictures and how they break the fourth wall with almost every ending, the finale can seem hokey. But as a spy spoof and a Road reunion, The Road to Hong Kong does a pretty decent job.

And Olive Films, which has been producing a nice catalog of oldies on Blu-ray, did a very nice job on the transfer. They’ve quickly become a name you can trust for old movies on HD.

TINKER BELL AND THE LEGEND OF THE NEVERBEAST (Blu-ray combo)

March 3, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Children's, Entire Family, G rated 1 Comment

neverbeastcoverGrade: B+/A-
Entire family:  Yes, but older boys may resist
2015, 76 min., Color
DisneyToon Studios
Rated G
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Featured audio: English DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Bonus features: C
Extended Sneak Peek

Disney has always gone after broad audiences, so it’s no surprise that their Pixie Hollow Fairies movies have moved steadily in the direction of more action in an attempt to attract boys to this little girls-only club.

In 2014, Tinker Bell and the Pirate Fairy folded the usual fairy fare into a rousing prequel to Peter Pan—a recipe for adventure that included more extended scenes of peril via pirates, swashbuckling, and that famous crocodile. Now, Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast introduces a “monster” to Pixie Hollow in what can best be described as a fairy misadventure that borrows liberally from Aesop’s fable of “Androcles and the Lion” and Disney’s own Beauty and the Beast— with a third act that reminds you a little of Ghostbusters.

“Not enough,” my teenage son says, explaining that as long as nobody gets destroyed it won’t appeal to boys, because boys don’t think the same way that girls do. They don’t want stories about following your heart versus following the rules of the community, or about a monster that’s really just misunderstood. They want real monsters and real battles. Body counts.

I’m not so sure. I think if we had put on NeverBeast when our son was younger, it would have held his interest. He was into animals at the time, and there are plenty of them in NeverBeast. One of the Blu-ray bonus features even highlights animal wrangler Jeff Corwin. Although the characters are all female fairies, Tinker Bell takes a back seat this time and animal fairy Fawn (Ginnifer Goodwin) gets the spotlight. She’s frankly easier for boys to like, if not identify with. If boys liked the slightly spacy younger sister from Frozen, they should like Fawn, who is animated, full of excuses, and determined to confront dangerous animals just to help them.   More

THE BEGINNERS BIBLE (DVD)

February 25, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Children's, G rated Leave a comment

BeginnersBiblecoverGrade: B+
Entire family: No (ages 6 and under only)
1995, 90 min. (3 stories), Color
Time Life/StarVista
Not rated (would be G)
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (full screen)
Featured audio: English Mono
Bonus features: None
Trailer

The DVD notes indicate that this video is copyrighted 1995, which is two years before the Karyn Henley and Dennas Davis version of The Beginners Bible and well before the 2005 update from Kelly Pulley. Don’t look for a similar style, because the rendering and animation in this Sony Wonder production seem more closely related to what we saw in the old For Better or For Worse comic strips by Lynn Johnston. The name “The Beginners Bible” is trademarked and has probably gone through many transmutations. This DVD, a rerelease of a Sony Wonder production, will be available on March 3, 2015.

The Beginners (no apostrophe) Bible DVD contains three 25-30 minute stories that are clearly designed for pre-school age children, because all the angst and negativity of the stories are omitted. Some parents will argue that it’s wrong to sanitize the stories and gloss over the crucifixion or Herod’s killing of babies, while others will be perfectly happy to introduce their wee ones to the basic stories of The Nativity (Jesus’ Christmas birth), The Story of Easter (Jesus’ resurrection), and The Story of Moses (the Exodus from Egypt). You’d be hard pressed to find three cheerier versions of those Bible stories than the ones children encounter here.

BeginnersBiblescreenColors tend toward the sunny, and the characters do a lot of smiling with warm, smiley eyes. The language is contemporary as well. When Moses tells Pharaoh to “Let my people go,” Pharaoh responds, “Don’t try and tell me what to do. I’m the Pharaoh.” Later, when the Nile turns to blood, that gruesome fact is deemphasized by a fish that flops onto Pharaoh’s lap. And when the Israelites are given manna from heaven, it’s quite literally depicted as bread flakes falling from the sky like snow. But while the story ends with the Ten Commandments, there’s no Golden Calf or pagan behavior to muddy the waters. It’s a pretty simple trajectory from Moses following God’s command to “And this is how Moses led the people back to the promised land.”

I wondered what a series like this would do with the crucifixion, but it’s minimized by having three crosses in silhouette, no human shapes immediately recognizable, and a voiceover that tells us “Jesus died on the cross with a thief on either side of him.” The emphasis in this episode is on the positive, as it is with the other two. Peter doesn’t deny Christ, Judas doesn’t hang himself, and Jesus isn’t flogged or have his side pierced as he’s hanging from the cross. Roman soldiers don’t gamble for his cloak. The focus is on Jesus’ teachings, his acceptance of his lot, his prayers to God, and his resurrection—with Peter diving into the water to swim to him when he first reappears. It’s a joyous celebration of the Bible stories that, however sanitized, are certainly likely to be more entertaining to young children and less traumatizing or confusing.

Will it meet with parents’ approval? That depends on how traditional they are or how much of a stickler they are for details and tone. The Bible keeps evolving, and these stories are rendered in a style that could only be described as “cute.” Some may want more austerity or “seriousness,” but in the past, if such stories hadn’t come from the Bible, I’m guessing that more than a few parents and educator groups would have deemed them not age-appropriate. The Bible actually has a lot of violence and “begatting.” These three episodes are more age-appropriate, and they do seem like a good way to introduce youngsters to three big stories from the Bible. The kids may even want to watch them over and over, like other cartoons.

BIG HERO 6 (Blu-ray combo)

February 15, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Animation, Entire Family, PG rated 1 Comment

BigHero6coverGrade: A
Entire family: Yes
2014, 102 min., Color
Disney
Rated PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 widescreen
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital HD
Bonus features: B
Trailer

“Different, but as good as Frozen,” my wife pronounced it. “Four stars,” both teens said. And Big Hero 6 was easily my pick for Best Animated Feature of 2014. We all loved it, though I have to admit the poster didn’t sell me, nor did my hearing that the story was about a main character named Hiro (Hero?) and his brother Tadashi. How in the world would Disney be able to deliver a robotics story involving Japanese-named characters without being locked into an anime style?

Well, if you’re Disney, you confidently (and I might add, audaciously) create a future city named San Fransokyo, which, we learn in one of the bonus features, combines a geological mapping of San Francisco with the visual and cultural look of Tokyo—a hybrid that allows them to do pretty much anything, visually. That invented city, which was rendered using a new method called “Hyperion,” is so infused with vibrancy that you’re almost blown away by some of the cityscape scenes.

That’s not surprising, given the fact that it’s Disney and they’re all about originality and heart. Both of those traits drive Big Hero 6, which takes its name and spirit (and a few characters) from an obscure Marvel comic book.

Big Hero 6 tells the story of a 14-year-old robotics prodigy named Hiro (Ryan Potter) who’s already graduated from high school and hopes to be accepted into the nerdy robotics school his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) attends. He visits the school and meets some of the other students, a quirky group that includes a tough bicycle-loving woman named GoGo (Jamie Chung), the neurotic and overly self-protective Wasabi (Damon Wayans, Jr.), and a fast-talking hyperexuberant chemistry wiz named Honey Lemon (Génesis Rodríguez).

It’s an origin story, really, about how this group of brainy misfits comes together to form a superhero group called Big Hero 6, but it’s also every bit as much of a relationship story between a boy and robot as a film like The Iron Giant. The plot is set in motion when Hiro’s project on microrobotics blows away the competition at a big school science fair, and Professor Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell) hands Hiro a letter of acceptance after warning him not to sell his idea to billionaire businessman Alistair Krei (Alan Tudyk).

BigHero6screen1As one of the animators says in a bonus feature, Disney has never shied away from the issue of loss, having traumatized one generation with Bambi and Old Yeller and another with The Lion King. A new generation will vicariously learn to deal with loss through this film, which begins with two already orphaned boys living with their aunt (Maya Rudolph) and introduces three situations where a loved one may have been killed. That’s as much as I can say without getting into spoiler territory, except to add that Big Hero 6 is full of emotion. It’s also full of humor, with the soft vinyl robot Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit) sharing the comedic duties with all the nerdy characters and a rich wannabe superhero friend named Fred (T. J. Miller).

More

THE WONDER YEARS: SEASON 2 (DVD)

February 7, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Comedy, Drama, PG rated Leave a comment

WonderYears2coverGrade: A-
Entire family: No. Age 10 and older.
1988-89, 520 min., Color
Time Life/StarVista Entertainment
Not rated (would be PG because of mild language, content)
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Bonus features: B

As I wrote in my review of The Wonder Years: Complete Series, this coming-of-age TV comedy-drama gets it right. Lots of things can shape a person, and just as WWII defined a generation, so did the Sixties—which historians date from John F. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination to Richard M. Nixon’s 1972 resignation. The Wonder Years managed to capture the perfect storm of events that were always in a family’s consciousness—even as the father tried to put food on the table, siblings fought and sought to find their place in the world, and the mother tried to hold them all together.

Like Leave It to Beaver, the series’ episodes were seen from the point of view of an adolescent, and you knew you were in for an interesting ride when this 1988-93 series shunned a laugh track and introduced the kind of voiceover narrator that we got in A Christmas Story—an adult version of the main character. And you knew that the series would meet the ‘60s head-on when the pilot called for the girl-next-door’s older brother to be killed in Vietnam, and for our hero to comfort her in a scene that would culminate in a first kiss for each of them—both as characters, and as actors.

Kids Kevin Arnold’s age were too young to worry about a draft number, but too old to ignore the events that were shaping history and the lives of Americans—things like the Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy assassinations, the moon landing, Woodstock, the Apollo 13 crisis, and events that were an outgrowth of Civil Rights, women’s liberation, and the increasingly violent anti-war protests. The result is a series that combines the innocence of childhood—of who likes whom, and passing notes—with a world that’s pushing them to grow up more quickly.   More

DOWNTON ABBEY: SEASON 5 (Blu-ray)

February 6, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater PG rated, TV Drama Leave a comment

DowntonAbbey5coverGrade: B+/A-
Entire family: No
2014-15, 525 min. (9 episodes), Color
Not rated (would be PG for adult situations)
PBS
Aspect ratio: 16×9 Widescreen
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Bonus features: C-
Trailer

Downton Abbey is the most watched British costume drama series since 1981’s Brideshead Revisited and the second most-watched PBS series ever—behind Sesame Street and in front of The Magic School Bus. I’ve talked to a number of parents who watch the highbrow soap opera with their children and noticed this pattern: it’s easy to get hooked, but teenage girls like the show best, and teenage boys will watch if the whole family is doing so or if they’re trying to impress a girl. That’s no surprise, since there’s more intrigue in Downton Abbey than action, and much of the intrigue revolves around matters of the heart. Though nothing overly graphic is shown, there are scandals and affairs and secrets that people desperately try to protect.

Like Upstairs, Downstairs, this Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning series focuses on both levels of society at a British manor—in this case, the aristocratic Crawley family and the servants who work mostly in the subterranean level of the grand Yorkshire country house known as Downton Abbey. The show’s hallmarks are intelligent writing, multiple plotlines, soap-opera situations, and a cast of characters that includes ones we love and ones we love to hate. Because the characters are sufficiently complex, that’s often a matter of opinion.  More

ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE . . . DAY (Blu-ray)

February 4, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Comedy, Entire Family, PG rated, Uncategorized Leave a comment

AlexandercoverGrade: B-/B
Entire family:  Yes
2014, 81 min., Color
Rated PG for rude humor, including some reckless behavior and language
Disney
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 5.1
Includes: Blu-ray, Digital HD Copy
Bonus features: C
Trailer

Ever have the feeling that when your day starts off on the wrong foot, it’s going to be one stumble after the next, until you can go to bed and get a fresh start the following morning?

That’s what happens to 11-year-old Alexander, a doom-and-gloom youngster who tries to warn his family that anything they attempt is bound to turn out badly—all because his own day begins with a wad of gum stuck in his hair and then slides quickly into a vat of bubbling disasters, both small and large. What’s worse, it’s the day before his 12th birthday.

The rule of thumb for most movies told from the point of view of a child is that they tend to appeal to audiences who are the same age or younger than the star. That would make Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day aimed at elementary schoolers. But because Walt Disney Studios tried to broaden the appeal by bringing in more extreme situations and having the bad luck extend to every single family member, my guess is that it may also appeal to families with pre-teen children. It features an unlikely Date Night sequence of events and a motor vehicle that ultimately, as with the family from Little Miss Sunshine, brings them closer together.   More

101 DALMATIANS (Blu-ray combo)

January 31, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Action-Adventure, Animation, Entire Family, G rated 1 Comment

101DalmatianscoverGrade:  A-
Entire family:  Yes
1961, 79 min., Color
Rated G
Disney
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (with a border option)
Featured audio: DTS-HD MA 7.1
Includes: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital Copy
Bonus features: B+
Trailer

Kids who love Frozen owe a big thank-you to the Disney staffers who made 101 Dalmatians. Animation had grown to be such an expensive proposition that it took 600 people to bring the previous film, Sleeping Beauty, to the big screen in 1959. And so the folks who worked on 101 Dalmatians were told that they had to find a way to make an animated picture that didn’t cost so much, or Walt Disney would reluctantly pull the plug on all future animated projects. The animation staff had already been trimmed to 300, but that still wasn’t enough. What saved animation for Disney was the discovery that you could eliminate the step of “inking” the drawings by Xeroxing them directly onto acetate sheets and save one tedious and expensive step in the animation process.

That’s the backstory, but what everyone knew in 1961 was that Disney had come up with another winning animated feature that included one of the most memorable Disney villains to date: Cruella De Vil, a devil of a woman who even had her own catchy theme song. She couldn’t change herself into a dragon, like Maleficent, but her driving was frightful and her obsession—to turn cute little Dalmatian puppies into a fur coat—was as evil and monstrous as any scheme that young viewers could comprehend. Even her henchmen were memorable because they combined comic relief and true menace.

101 Dalmatians turned out to be the ninth highest grossing film of 1961, and while it didn’t do as well as two Disney live-action features (The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap), it kept Disney animation alive for future projects and future generations of viewers.

101Dalmatiansscreen1The late Roger Ebert called it “an uneven film, with moments of inspiration in a fairly conventional tale of kidnapping and rescue,” and it’s hard to dispute that. But I do take exception with Ebert’s assessment that it’s only “passable fun.” 101 Dalmatians is more than that, especially for dog lovers and families with pets—and according to the Humane Society, that’s 47 percent of all American households. The puppies are cute as the Dickens and drawn, in typical Disney fashion, from live models so that they’re incredibly realistic in their movement.   More

ARTHUR’S FOUNTAIN ABBEY (DVD)

January 28, 2015

James Plath, Family Home Theater Animation, Children's, Entire Family, G rated Leave a comment

ArthursFountainAbbeycoverGrade: B+/A-
Entire family:  No
2014, 56 min., Color
Not rated (would be G)
PBS Kids
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1 (full screen)
Featured audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Bonus features: C
Teaser

Arthur will probably never catch its PBS cousin Sesame Street, which, at 44 seasons, is the longest running children’s show in America. But at 18 seasons it still holds the distinction of being the longest running animated children’s show in America.

Based on the books by Marc Brown, the series star is Arthur Read (the last name is deliberate, since the series encourages reading), an eight-year-old anthropomorphic aardvark who lives in a world of animals that walk, talk, dress, and face the same problems as their human counterparts. He’s a responsible kid who comes from a good family, and the series shifts back and forth between friends and family life with parents David (a chef/caterer) and Jane (an accountant who also works at home), and Arthur’s two younger sisters—the often annoying preschooler D.W. (short for Dora Winifred) and the infant Kate.

Arthur is a third-grade student at Lakewood Elementary, a likable brainy kid who isn’t marginalized the way some studious or brilliant kids are, and is made more “average” here because one of his friends is called “Brain.” He’s also friends with an exuberant rabbit named Buster and a not-so-bright burly dog named Binky. The emphasis is often on problem-solving, and reading sometimes provides a means of getting to that end. But Arthur is also good about addressing serious issues in a soft-but-firm way, or crafting episodes that are rooted in the headlines and popular culture.

Maybe that’s why the show has become popular with young adults who connect now via nostalgia but also those satirical episodes. Call it a kinder, gentler version of The Simpsons, because the writers have taken to incorporating parodies of movies and other TV shows, including the title episode on this four-episode DVD, “Fountain Abbey.”   More

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